California's biggest fire ever, but residents know it could have been much worse
UKIAH, Calif. - Under a smoky haze, Larry Wiedey idled Tuesday in a parking lot outside a makeshift shelter at Mountain Vista Middle School in Lake County, where several fire refugees had set up cots and parked their cars.
He's been camping there for three nights, displaced by what is now the largest fire on record in California. The Mendocino Complex - made up of the Ranch and River fires - continued to burn on both sides of Clear Lake. By Tuesday night, the complex had consumed more than 292,000 acres in 12 days and was 34 percent contained. Firefighters took advantage
